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Thursday, June 25, 2009

How To Keep Your Sanity When Traveling With Children

Remember back in the day, when going on vacation meant that you'd actually be, well, vacationing? What it meant for me, essentially was:

Wake up at 10 a.m.Get into bikini. Put on cute cover-up.Find the perfect spot by the pool, and tan. Order a drink. Swim. Drink. Swim. Tan.Relocate to the beach. Swim. Swim. Tan. Drink. Swim.Go shower so you can go shopping before the stores close.Get dressed, and decide which pair of shoes (out of the 50 you brought) you'll wear.Shop. Shop. Shop.Back at hotel, take off all the tags from the new purchases, and make them look 'not new' so customs, who has you on their 'hotlist' as someone who spends too much money in other countries, doesn't think you shopped too much.Go out for dinner.Go out for drinks.And do it all again the next day.

This is of course when I was not traveling to Greece, where a lot more walking and sightseeing was done. Europe is all about doing the tourist thing. The list of reasons I will not take my kids on a 10 hour plane ride to Greece until the youngest is 3 years old is long, and is a whole other post!

Fast-forward to life with a child. It was daunting, at first, to even go to the grocery store. Everything had to be well thought out ahead of time - diaper bag packed, baby fed, baby's diaper changed, apply makeup, find purse, change baby's diaper again, feed him again, go to the grocery store. Phew.

So, the idea of traveling with my child came up. I was missing Florida. I needed the sun, the sand, the beach. I needed to see palm trees, and to be on vacation. So, since hubby was working, my mom, my sister and I, along with Christos, went to Florida. Christos was not yet 2 years old - and I was pregnant. Oh yeah. Traveling with an almost 2 year old while pregnant was... actually, not bad.

My tips for traveling with a toddler?

Take a short flight. No longer than 3 hours, and you'll all keep your sanity.

Bring a portable DVD player with your child's favourite DVD's.

In your carry-on bag, bring new books and toys to occupy your child.

Travel with family. The more, the merrier. Seriously - as many extra hands as you can get to come with you!

Try to take as many cute pictures as you can while on vacation.

Also? Bring lunch to your child in the hotel room. No need to sit and wait to eat at a restaurant. Who wouldn't enjoy a burger and fries in bed?

Now, taking a trip with 2 kids - a 6 month old and a 3 year old - became a bit more challenging, but still totally do-able.

My tips?

Nurse your baby on the plane. He won't even realize the plane has taken off, and he'll sleep almost the entire time. Also? When you travel with a baby who is breastfeeding, you have more room in your suitcase for shoes!

Take your husband, your sister, her husband, and your parents with you. You're good to go.

Make sure to stay at a child-friendly resort, where they provide things like beach toys for the kids to play with.

Okay, moving on to traveling with a 1 year old and a 3 and a half year old. Try to pack light. I had to pack less shoes than usual so I could pack things like formula and diapers. Oh, the things I sacrifice!

Don't worry about leaving your baby half dressed after a diaper change on the plane. It is hard enough changing the diaper of a squirmy baby on the plane to begin with! And don't worry if he walks up and down the aisle of the plane, talking to everyone he sees. They don't mind at all. He's happy? You're happy, all is good.

Make sure your children have enough soothers to last them the entire trip.

Again, pick a child friendly location. I recomment the Atlantis in Bahamas - you'll never have a dull moment, and with 5 children's pools to choose from, the kids will be happy all day long! This pool had a HUGE play structure in the water, with slides, and buckets of water, and so much more! (Note - my hair is straight here, because it's the day we arrived. As if I'd have time to straighten my hair with 2 boys in one hotel room with me!)

Nap time can be enjoyed under a palm tree in the shade. That way, someone can always stay close to the baby while you swim!

Did I mention bring your parents? My dad is such a great grandfather - traveling with them made this trip more enjoyable.

And of course... after the kids are happily tucked in and asleep, you can have a few drinks. And actually realize that you're totally enjoying vacationing with your kids!

33 comments:

We have done the over the Atlantic flight with our kids several times. On the way there, it is no problem at all. We generally get a flight that leaves around 9:00pm and arrives in Europe early in the morning and the kids sleep the whole flight.

The way home is more challenging because the flights are generally in the middle of the day. We try to get them to take a brief nap, but make sure we have lots of books and DVDs.

I can't wait to do a vacation with both kids. But not for at least a year. We took our oldest son to England (9 hour flight) when he was 6 months old, and it was a total nightmare. He screamed for 3 hours solid.

I love all your tips and your photos! We've traveled quite a bit with ours already (London twice, Florida, Virginia...and have three more trips planned this year) - and I've found that having her on a schedule even on vacation is a big help too!

Ah, travelling with kids, a challenge at every age and NOT a true vacation for me BUT still SO worth it!

We've never had the luxury of family travelling with us though. But planning ahead is what it's alla bout. We are on our way to Greece this August, fourth time with kids. And we've been to Florida or somewhere in teh Carribean every year for teh past 15 years so have experienced travelling with kids every step of teh way. Sure is easier once the diapers and forlmula and strollers are done with :)

We are getting ready to travel 26 hours by car to Milwaukee for a week. I'm FREAKING OUT! I'm not really worried about how the kids will do...I'm worried about my in-laws behaving themselves. They are worse than children!

We're getting ready to go away for the weekend tomorrow, but luckily it's a short two hour drive. Plane travels are a different story! One of my favorite travel distractions is to pick up a bunch of Disney paint chips in different colors at Home Depot. They help my son practice his color recognition. You can also play a little game of "Memory" with them.

I SO have the travel bug and your pictures make me want to go somewhere beachy! Sadly, a lake will have to do for now...

Fantastic! You look like you had a wonderful time :) We are going on a 13 hour car trip this summer with a 2 yo and a dog. The part I'm most concerned about is staying in the hotel room...she's not good with sleep environment changes. Wish us luck!

I love this post! And I totally agree with how much traveling changed after kids, mostly with what I bring for me on vacation. I used to pack a whole huge suitcase just for me, now I share it with three other people and leave all my fun and funky shoes at home.

I LOVED this post! I loved the pictures, and I loved the tips. This may sound silly and gooey but it *might* be because you are Greek and your mommy ways are just like my mommy ways (and maybe that is every mommy and I'm just being goofy, but I don't think so), but I really enjoyed reading about how you take your kids on trips. I LOVE going on trips with my children. Something about being out of the comfort of home is cool, even to them.

Gorgeous pictures! I have a few trips with my girls under my belt, and I think we all develop our strategies... but the most universal one you've mentioned: "when you travel with a nursing baby, there's more space in your luggage for shoes!" Genius :-)

I have yet to do a trans-Atlantic flight with my little one, but have done numerous short flights. Entertainment on the plane is definitely the key! That is until they have a diaper blowout and then it's a whole different story...

Wow, your trips actually make me want to travel with my kids. Although, I've had a much different, and more difficult experience than you in traveling with my babies which I posted about in "How I Survived Flying With a Baby." Maybe it's because I didn't have a big Greek family with me?